She has said she would never run for office. Perhaps she has met a few politicians, and knows what they know. It is impossible to stay completely clean (as hard as it is to stay sober on sazeracs), and for an ethical person, that is painfully hard.

It was a funny, and entertaining segment, but makes me very sad at the same time. I have known many people who had a long journey to get off of alcohol, some that really never did, in fact, they died from it. They say cirrhosis of the liver is a very, very painful way to go. If you get a hangover, and you feel like there is a swollen sponge in between your stomach and your diaphragm, that is the beginnings of liver damage. Quit NOW before it becomes irreversible!

When I quit drinking and smoking, both addictions that took the lives of several of my friends, and family, it was like going into a dark, dark tunnel.
It is very frightening. What you can do, for what it is worth, if you are not joining a 12 step group, (I really didn't want to) is you find a fanatical but worthwhile substitute for the addiction. An addiction, for an addiction, my new addiction was books. I read lots and lots of books. Just because, I could find things to read about, that I could be as fanatical about, as drinking or smoking. And whenever that ugly addiction thought pops its ugly head up, get mad and read another paragraph. Lots of coffee too. Instead of chaining cigarettes, and beer, chain drink coffee. It is a lot safer to chain coffee. No it is not at all easy, and I am not doing the whole story justice. Michael Douglas did the worst thing in smoking and drinking at the same time. The alcohol enables the carcinogens to more easily cross the lining of the throat. Stage 4 throat cancer he has. If I start to count all the people I have known who died this way......

If you drink and/ or smoke you should know that in the end stage of certain kinds of lung cancer, some people begin very, very painfully, hacking up ugly little clumps of their own lungs. My brother saw his first wife's father die that way. Visualize bloody little clumps of lung, maybe then you'll stop.

And, Cirrhosis of the liver isn't any less painful. Pain narcotics can only do so much, and when the pain is so bad toward the final months, (yes months, and sometimes several months of pain) they get so much narcotics to relieve the pain, that it makes them so incoherent that it isn't much left of living anyway. Legal suicide, that's what it was. My uncle made his peace with God, and wished me luck on my continued journey, when I found out he was dying of lung cancer, too late to tell him to read a goddamn book!

Print this out. Read it every day. Tell yourself, little clumps of lung. Suicide. Apologize to yourself for being such a fool. (I did.) That's what you are doing, legal suicide, apologize to yourself. Apologize to your lungs. Apologize to your liver.

If you get a hangover, and you feel like there is a swollen sponge in between your stomach and your diaphragm, that is the beginnings of liver damage. Quit NOW before it becomes irreversible. Dr Pensword has given you your prescription, now go, find an addiction substitute. Drink some coffee, read a book, or put together 5000 piece jigsaw puzzles, or whatever you can get fanatical about. Take up knitting or macrame'! I even made my dogs their own clothing! Grow a garden, maybe. I started charity work. This could probably work for someone addicted to other types of drugs, I know some drugs are supposed to be even harder to shake. I know too, that thanks to most of these drugs, most of these people are also slowly committing suicide.

Suicide... little clumps of lung, chunks of vomitous clinging to the lining of your nostrils, or worse...

Or, get mad, and read about whatever gets you really, really pissed off. Lots of good conspiracy theories out there, some by reputable journalists, because they are true! Read about it because @!$%# happens and you can do something about it. Or hey, maybe just read maddowblog more often.

Exercise too, is really good. I managed to get really trim and sexy, but alas, I was younger.

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you were able to turn your life around. I think it's important to stress that like many fun things in life, if one starts too soon, these things can become destroyers of the mind & soul. Tobacco, pot, booze, sex--if started too early during the teen years, take control. Instead of this time being used to grow & find ourselves, we lose ourselves. Some never find the creative passion we were suppose to power our lives with. Some die. Good luck on your enlightened path.

Sex? I never had the pleasure of being addicted to that, but I am sure it too can be very self-destructive. Thanks Hashtag.

Actually though, except for a couple of close encounters with women, I never enjoyed sex. I made the mistake of thinking I was a heterosexual when I was younger, and dated men. I think that was why I became an alcoholic, I had to totally get smashed to have sex. I haven't met a person yet, that I didn't feel like drinking before having sex with them. I think she is out there, I just haven't met her yet.

I do know one gal who finally found the right man, and quit all her addictions, & married him. He wasn't going to marry her unless she did. They are still together, @ 15 yrs or more.

pensword: anything in excess is against nature...moderation in all things. life can be a long road so pace yerself!(just ask my feet) ...at least the books won't rot yer liver out...as to hooking up w the right girl, Ft. Lauderdale is in vogue.

A "tourist" is a girl who is just experimenting for a time. Find yourself a woman who has been in this for a while and is confident w her identity.

I agree. I am surprised that TRMS viewership declines when Rachel does out of studio shows. All of the TRMS viewers I know (including myself) love her on location shows, including those when she is only out of the studio for part of the hour, such as the Geek Week shows.

I think it's more that when she goes on location, she is usually gone for a couple days traveling and someone else is hosting in her place. That is when the viewership (is that a real word?) drops off.

I love it, too, when Rachel's on location. I've learned more about what's going on with the Katrina recovery and BP oil spill than anywhere else, and I live here! The shows from Afghanistan and Iraq were fabulous, and so was geek week.

I wonder if the same happens when she goes to D.C. to interview people or to other U.S. locations for election coverage.

I don't get why viewership decreases, but they measure that stuff, so they know the numbers.

I don't like it when Rachel goes on location for two reasons. Though she always gets a few really good segments out of it, I don't really like watching a whole week on the same subject. Maybe I have a short attention span, I dunno. And secondly, it usually means she's not on the air at all for a couple of days, which makes me so sad it's embarrassing to admit. I need Rachel at least five days a week. And it's never announced, so I go to my TiVo, all excited, to watch the show I ALWAYS watch first no matter what drama is also waiting... And it's a guest host. Or worse, no show at all (like last night)... And I'm sure we won't get a show on Monday either, with Labor Day. Sigh.

Benjamaino,

Don't be embarrassed, we're all hooked or we wouldn't be on the blog talking with each other about our favorite host and her show.

I download the podcasts in iTunes and I have kept almost all the shows since the beginning (1 Tb external hard drive for $80 on Wal-mart.com). I have a set of favorites I've separated into their own folder, and whenever I need a fix, I go back and watch one of those shows.

Or I'll go online and watch "Working the Dark Side" on Link TV, or go to some of my favorite interviews she did (Charlie Rose is one of my favorites), or some of the speeches she's given (Smith College 2010 graduation) or Q&A sessions. She's been on MTP 5 times, so you can watch those again. You can find a lot at maddowfans.com, the unofficial fan site.

I listen to old radio podcasts from Air America.

You can go back to a recent week of shows and watch them again. You'll find you missed something the second or third time you watch.

If you're really desperate, you can go to YouTube and watch tons of videos, from current show segments to guest hosting on Countdown to guesting on various other shows as a political pundit. She also recorded some segments in her radio studio, and those are priceless. It's fun to watch those clips.

We all hate it when a show isn't on, but it's important for the overall success of the show and Rachel to go on location and report first-hand from where things she talks about are going on. There is no substitute for actually being there and experiencing the story. It changes your perspective and understanding so deeper, more relevant questions are conceived and explored. It's part of the research that makes her a huge cut above her contemporaries.

The top execs see the value of it or they wouldn't foot the bill and accept the temporary lower ratings to send her and her crew around the country or around the world.

Yeah that was my reaction too. Something must be magical about that staircase to no where they always show during the commercial and the gagillion TVs behind her with her name flashing by every second. Who'd thunk? =)

It makes sense, though. An in-studio program has a variety of topics; an out of the studio show is meant to focus on one particular topic. That portion of the regular audience that isn't particularly turned on by that one topic would naturally tune out. I do it myself.

Ahh @ Endless I never thought about it that way.

re the ratings, I thought she meant they go down when she's not broadcasting because she's traveling to Baghdad, i.e. she has a substitute host - sorry, Chris Hayes...

I guess not as many people outside of the Gulf South are as interested in Hurricane Katrina and the BP Gulf oil spill.

But as Americans, we should all learn what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan whether the topics are our cup of tea or not. They impact America and American and Allied soldiers greatly, and we need to understand what's happening.

Like Countdown, it took Keith quite awhile to find sub-hosts that kept his ratings while he was away. Rachel did it and so has Lawrence O'Donnell. Now they have their own shows because they've proved their worth to the network. It may take Rachel and Lawrence some serious time to find the right sub-hosts to hold their ratings while they're away.

Katrina and the Gulf Oil Spill happened to us, but if you knew what we know!!!!! And knew it could happen to your town! You'd wake up and want to know more! Even if you are not prone to hurricanes, or even oil spills, it is possible one day a major disaster, a lackadaisical federal government, or a deregulated mega-corporate buffoon will shat upon you, and you will wish you had listened!

Ya I wanted to comment about that @ joubess. That's bullpuckey. Not what you said, but the fact that it's true. You are part of America. Never ever forget that. I am sorry our country ignores certain states- LA is treated like because it's the Mardes Gras city there's no reason to care about it except for a place to put your vomit and lose your virginity in college. I'm sorry you guys have had to endure what you've had to endure- but please understand that there are Americans who haven't even ever been to your state who still care about you and are standing beside you.

Thanks, Micky Mouser. We know a lot of people around the country and the world care. They've held benefits and collected supplies and workers to come here and help us rebuild, or have volunteered with the Red Cross. Millions gave to the Red Cross for us.

We are all extremely grateful to all of you who care about us. We know you're out there. We really know it when Rachel keeps us in the national news, too.

As of Friday, the NRA has personally assured me that members lists are confidential and will NOT be handed out to any candidate. However, they have donated $5,000 to Harry Reid. They state this is a contribution and not an endorsement of Harry Reid.

Currently, the NRA is not endorsing either AZ candidate in the race for the Senate seat.

Me, too! Her expression was priceless.

At Commander's Palace, dinner probably lasted 4-6 hours or longer. It's not a meal, it's an experience, more like a Roman Bacchanalian feast. You don't hurry, you enjoy. Or as we say here, Melange! So, 7 rounds isn't as many as it seems over the period of time you're drinking. And you're eating the whole time, too, so you're not just getting plastered. The booze goes with the food. Besides, you need some alcohol to relax your stomach so you can fit more in it!

No, no, no...no worries. Keith tweeted Rachel is off tonight. It's a holiday weekend and Rachel took the night off, probably to get out of town before Hurricane Earl hits Manhattan and prevents her from going home. If she went home last night or this morning, she missed the storm. If she had waited until tonight, the rain and wind are probably heading into the city and she wouldn't be able to travel safely.

She'll be back Tuesday with everyone else.

Earl was pretty much a non-event in NYC. Besides, if Rachel and Susan take the Merritt Parkway home, they are away from the coast anyway. Probably they just wanted a long weekend. It would have been nice to have some warning, however. I was more than mildly annoyed when Lockup started at 9PM.

That's good. It looked there for awhile like NYC was going to get hammered with at least a lot of rain and wind. Glad it missed you.

No, it's on Poydras.

Love Mothers!!!

Sorry I forgot where Mother's is exactly. Poydras is right. I'm usually not paying attention when we end up there to eat! I just know how to get there on foot from the Riverwalk or The French Quarter.

@ the "protective glasses and concealing shirts" comment- I actually think that's how Rachel dresses normally. I think, when she's on her show, they make her dress a bit more...I guess girly or flashy? Not sure which word you'd use...feminine maybe? She has complained before in articles that she has had to tone down her "butchness" in order to be on television. I think probably, if it were up to her, she'd do broadcasts in her sweatshirt, jeans, and a pair of sneakers. I think she's forced by her PR representatives to dress differently in order to appeal to "mainstream" America; at least taking it away from comments she's made. If I can find the article I read where she talks about it I"ll send it your way- not having any such luck atm (been looking for about 10 minutes before posting this).

This is the closest thing I can find http://motherjones.com/media/2009/02/rachel-maddows-star-power-extended-interview

The interview I read before was one where she was hugging her lab, she was wearing a green shirt in front of a bookshelf- in that interview she made a snide comment about having to be more feminine in order to be on television. But maybe I misunderstood that as meaning it was an exterior choice rather than a personal choice. In the motherjones interview it sounds like she made the decision, and from what I can recollect from the other interview she never actually said MSNBC made her do it (just sounded that way). I can't find the other interview, but there's that one from MJ.

OMG second!!! I'll admit I've fantasized about that before- I think it'd be so funny